As a fan of vampire horror, I have
bought into all of the shows, movies and literature that go along with being a
vampire fan. I have read and watched all of the Twilight books and movies and I am anxiously awaiting the return of
the now evil Bill Compton on True Blood.
Having watched Let the Right One In,
my love of the new vampire was
fostered even more by this loving, yet twisted take on an old classic.
Eli, the monster of the movie is
sweet twelve year old girl living in an apartment complex with her less than
capable but loving caretaker. She befriends an estranged boy of the same age,
Oskar. Oskar on the surface seems to be a simple boy, however once the movie
develops we see that he has more evil inside of him than at first glance. Our
first view of Oskar is him inside his room, starkly dressed in underwear
surrounded by harsh lighting. He is slashing a blade through the air crying,
“Squeal! Squeal like a pig!” In these first moments the film allows its
audience to think that Oskar is simply being a young boy, full of might and
wild imagination exhibited typical of most young men. However, as the film
carries on we realize Oskar was envisioning killing the peers at his school who
torment him daily. He also collects newspaper clippings of murders in the area
and has an extensive education on murder investigation. It is no wonder that this shy but blood
thirsty boy falls in love with the vampire Eli.
While watching Let the Right One In, I could not help but feel sorry for little Eli
and Oskar. Both are adrift from real life, caught up in their own horror
stories, yet once they find each other, the halves become a whole. Eli protects
young fragile Oskar who in turn accepts Eli for what she is and loves her in
spite of it. Though the content of the film is very typical of the loving
monsters of the 21st century, director Tomas Alfredson, drafts his
characters up against a harsh and starkly real Stockholm apartment complex. The
only warmth in this film comes from the characters themselves, a comment on
today’s society. Often times, modern vampire flicks make the monster a victim,
succumbed to a horrible sickness, one they don’t wish to spread. Seeing as
today’s society is steeped in turmoil, the monsters of today reveal the message
that not everything is as it seems; bad may be good and good may be evil.
Nothing is certain, not even vampires.
From the mise-en-scene to the
abrupt use of diagetic sound Alfredson paints a chilly and harsh cinematic
world. Alfredson also pays homage to the old vampire classics by not allowing
his monster into a room without an invitation, a similarity shared with
Stoker’s original Dracula. Let the Right
One In can be admired by the newest or oldest of vampire film-fanatics.
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